Friday, December 30, 2005

...and dig the following words of wisdom to live by in 2006 & beyond, from the great John Digby:

Patrick Henry Democratsby digbyFrom John Digby'sHullabaloo, 12/29/05:As much as I appreciate all these Republicans offering us advice about how we are endangering our political prospects by not supporting illegal NSA spying, I have to wonder if they really have our best interests at heart. I just get a teensy bit suspicious that it might not be sincere.

The truth is that I have no idea where the NSA spying scandal is going and neither do they. The Republicans would like it to go nowhere for obvious reasons and so they are trying to psych out timid Dems. What I do know is that the most important problem Democrats have is not national security; it's that nobody can figure out what we stand for. And when we waffle and whimper about things like this we validate that impression.

In Rick Perlstein's book, "The Stock Ticker and The Super Jumbo" he notes that many Democrats are still reeling from the repudiation of the party by the Reagan Democrats. And while they continue to worry about being too close to African Americans or being too rigid on abortion or too soft on national security, they don't realize that the most vivid impression people have of the Democrats is this:

"I think they lost their focus""I think they are a little disorganized right now""They need leadership""On the sidelines""fumbling""confused""losing""scared"

The reason people think this is because we are constantly calculating whether our principles are politically sellable (and we do it in front of god and everybody.) We've been having this little public encounter session for well over 20 years now and it's added up to a conclusion that we don't actually believe in anything at all.

Perhaps the NSA scandal is a political loser for Dems. We can't know that now. But it is a winner for us in the long term. We believe in civil liberties and civil rights. With economic fairness, they form the heart of our political philosophy. If this particular issue doesn't play well, that's too bad. People who believe in things sometimes have to be unpopular. Over time, they gain the respect of the people which is something we dearly need.

A party that is described as fumbling, confused and scared is unlikely to win elections even if they endorse the wholesale round-up of hippies and the nuking of Mecca. People will listen to us if we can first convince them that we know who we are and what we believe in.

I'm of the mind to adopt "give me liberty or give me death" as my personal motto. If I have to kowtow to a bunch of childish Republican panic artists who have deluded themselves into believing that fighting radical Islam requires turning America into a police state, then it's just not worth it.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Absolute Favorite Album of The Year:Son Volt---Okemah And The Melody Of RiotQuite simply the pinnacle of Jay Farrar's recording career. A record that places him shoulder to shoulder as a peer alongside those who have influenced him such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Joe Strummer, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty etc. Okemah And The Melody Of Riot plays like an unintentional soundtrack to the deep blues of well-intentioned citizens waking up to the horrors of a second Bush term. Jay and new band members deliver the goods in spades, both musically and lyrically, Bush and the war in Iraq the target most often in Jay's piercing lyrical sights. And the record rocks like a motherfucker when it needs to. The melody of riot indeed...

The Rest Of The Pack (In alphabetical order, reissues included. Some inspired blurbs, though those without are still of equal enjoyment value to me):

Terry Adams & Marshall Allen---ten by twoBreathtaking live duets from the NRBQ pianist and the Sun Ra Orchestra saxophonist. Adams' uncanny ability to simultaneously channel the spirits of both Thelonius Monk & Sun Ra is remarkable, and when Allen blows you are reminded that space remains the place. This record is full of interplanetary be-bop & boogie woogie, a dash of rock n' roll, and even a total donk take on "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head".

The Amazing Pilots---Hello My Captor

The Bats---At The National Grid

John Cale—blackAcetateA bit of a throwback while always looking forward, the most rocking and straight ahead Cale record in a long time. Kind of an updated & modernized version of his classic '70's Island Records era sound.

Cobra Verde---Copycat Killers

Chocolate Genius Inc.---Black Yankee RockMarc Anthony Thompson is the black Brian Wilson. Why he's languishing in relative obscurity is beyond me, cause this record is a very deserving accomplishment, full of melodically complex and deeply moving genre-bending songs. Kinda like There's A Riot Goin On, but without the massive amounts of cocaine.

Dramarama---"everybody dies""The American Mott The Hoople" as I've always called them, re-unite and deliver the best unexpected surprise of the year.

Echo & The Bunnymen—Siberia

The Alejandro Escovedo String Quintet---Room Of Songs

The Flamin' Groovies---Shake Some Action (reissue)The Flamin' Groovies---Now (reissue)The Flamin' Groovies---Jumpin' In The Night (reissue)How great it is to finally have the Groovies' Sire era albums so magnificently re-mastered. The brilliance and historical significance of Shake Some Action remains staggering.

The Morells---Anthology "Live" 101 Songs About Cars, Girls, And Food!!!The Morells---Think About ItThe four disc live anthology is quite simply an amazing motherlode for diehards. And Think About It finds our heroes every bit as strong twenty years later, with some of Donnie Thompson's most jaw-dropping recorded guitar work ever.

Bob Mould---Body Of SongThough many dispute the call, I happen to think this is the best thing he's ever done. An emotionally moving and groove oriented mountain of rock. And call me crazy, but I totally dig the Cher vocoder vocal thingy used in this rocking context.

The Plimsouls---One Night In America (reissue)

Portastatic---Bright Ideas

Riddle Of Steel---Got This Feelin'

The Rolling Stones---A Bigger Bang

Serena-Maneesh---Serena-ManeeshKinda like Swervedriver—a good thing!

Patti Smith---Horses/Horses (half reissue/half new live album)

Sun Kil Moon---Tiny Cities

Turbonegro---Party AnimalsNorway's best rock band deliver another classic full of very intelligent hard rocking melodic pop anthems that simultaneously celebrate the joys and dark sides of Scandinavian hedonism. Imagine a totally glammed-out, Mensa version of the Dictators, but from Norway. And check out the instant sing along classic, "Blow Me Like The Wind"--- the best hard rocking song of the year!

Behold Ann Coulter's latest spew of filth. And remember folks, the majority of Bush supporters out there agree with her every word, though most lack the balls to actually voice that agreement out loud.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said recently, referring to the spy program controversy, "I think if we're going to be intellectually honest here, this really is the kind of thing that Alexander Hamilton was referring to when impeachment was discussed."

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Monday, December 19, 2005

Mark your calendars and set the tivos & vcrs for this coming Friday, December 23rd, as the magnificent Darlene Love returns to the Late Show With David Letterman, to recreate the Phil Spector "Wall Of Sound" with Paul Shaffer and an augmented CBS Orchestra. Her annual delivery of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is one of the most amazing musical performances you will see on television in any given year. And what's really amazing is that each new performance of the the song by Love, Shaffer, & company usually tops the performance from the year before. They really pull out all the stops, and it's always quite a sentimentally moving musical spectacle.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Your government is turning it's back and breaking the promises of help and relief that were made to those who were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Therefore these survivors must still rely heavily on the many charitable organizations out there still trying to help them. So please give whatever you can to the relief organization of your choice, cause these folks still need our help.

That was a totally psychedelic and totally brilliant Simpsons Christmas show that aired this evening. Screw those who think this show is past it's prime---the Simpsons bar remains high, and they still deliver the goods every week. And oh yeah, Moe's suicide attempts in the final vignette of tonight's show were priceless!

As they prepare a cell for him in the nearest gulag, all hail The Rude Pundit:

Do We Have To Wait Until Bush Purges 20 Million of Us Before We Can Say He's Like Stalin?from The Rude Pundit 12/16/2005:Sometimes, man, it's easy to understand why people just go on with their lives if they're in countries led by a dictator. 'Cause, see, ya got different types of dictators: ya got yer blatantly greedy, "fuck everyone's poverty and hunger as long as my fat belly is full and my big ass is on a gold pillow"-type, like yer House of Saud; ya got yer crazy, seein' shit, killin' everyone in sight, paranoid dictators, like yer Stalins, yer Kim Jong-Ils; ya got yer "as long as you don't fuck with me, we're cool" dictators, like yer Saddam Husseins; and, the most insidious kind, the dictators who pretend they're not dictators, that everything they do is good and right for the majority of the people in the nation, and, really, where do ya wanna start? Mao? No category is hard and fast, for qualities of one kind certainly bleed into the others (and, hey, this ain't a fuckin' textbook here). Besides, every dictator has his or her brutal fetishes, like rape rooms, testicle torture, or scalp-collectin', that inflict themselves on the occasional innocent. But, for the majority of a population, in the majority of dictatorships, it's just easier to live your life and hope that you never run over the dictator's son's pet goat or some such shit.'Cause, like, if you're a citizen in a dictatorship, you can belong to one of a few categories: inner circle, by connection, family, or ethnicity, where the bounty of the dictator is shared with you as long as you keep said dictator happy; enemy group, by politics, ethnicity, or region, in which case you will be fucked with, beaten, and your daughter raped in front of you on a regular basis until you're disappeared, imprisoned, or cleansed; or average person-in-the-street, the men and women who each day walk past the posters of Glorious Leader, listen to the Leader's speeches, work their jobs, fuck their spouses and/or lovers, raise their kids, watch their TVs, and feel a little exhausted and cranky all the time without wanting to admit why. Think of life in a Soviet bloc country back in the day. And average person-in-the-street has to make a decision: to seek to rebel, overthrow that dictator, and try to make a change in the nation (thus turning into a purgeable enemy of the state, you know), or take the safe, easy way out and live that average person life. And who could blame you?In America, we pretend, god, how we pretend, that we're not drifting precipitously into dictatorship, despite a government that clearly behaves as if it has the powers of such tyranny. How else do you explain the Bush administration's blatant violation of criminal law in the President's authorization of spying by the NSA on perhaps thousands of American citizens, a story the "liberal" New York Times sat on for a year at the behest of the White House? Combined with the revelation of the Pentagon database of "potential threats" to the nation that includes war protesters, and you've got some good ol' Soviet-style paranoia going on. If the government feels it has to monitor and/or control the speech and gatherings of its citizens, well, shit, may as well break out the ball vices, put up the posters of Bush standing on top of the corpses of traitors, and call it totalitarianism.But the occasional good work is a nice distraction from the excesses of a dictatorship. It's what makes it easier for that average citizen to sit back and be an object, acted upon, instead of a subject with that awful agency that forces one to act. Stalin knew that if he built a mighty dam, many people in the nation would overlook the death and misery he had wrought as his press praised him endlessly for his vision in making that mighty dam. So it is that the White House announced the request for an additional $1.5 billion to help reconstruct the levees in New Orleans (which takes care of an effect, but not the disease of environmental degradation).And anyone who thinks that Bush actually "gave in" to John McCain on the torture amenement is either an idiot or an idolater (and, really, it's hard to tell one from the other these days). We know, from funding for African AIDS programs to the use of poor people and the military as props, that Bush doesn't give a shit what he agrees to, what oaths he vows, what promises he makes: he's gonna do what he wants. Alberto Gonzales has already figured out a way around the McCain amendment, to be sure. And we'll find out about that in another couple of years. The agreement, like the promise to fund the levees, is hocus-pocus, sleight of hand, so you can't see the real fakery of the magic. It's like Stalin promising defectors that nothing would happen if they returned back home. Oh, what glorious bloodletting occurred because of that lie. Oh, how nice and peaceful that lie sounded.The failure of most Democrats to capitalize on these makes it seem like when Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton show up on some Sunday talk show, it's only because the powers-that-be allow them to speak. It's why when something happens like Russ Feingold getting some nutzoid, paranoid right wing Senators to go along with him on a possible filibuster of the Patriot Act, it is an extraordinary act of courage, when it should only be common sense.But dictatorships, even demi-dictatorships masked as democracies, don't operate under such convenient notions like "common sense" or "laws." And while the ghost of Hitler, which always haunts these kinds of writings, hasn't been dragged out yet here, let's end by saying this: for the dictatorship, there is only the will to power, and whatever manipulations and machinations it takes, that power will be maintained and the dictator will get whatever the dictator wants.(By the way, the Rude Pundit is not naive enough to think that spying on Americans hasn't occurred in the past, but, shit, at least COINTELPRO was part of the FBI.)

Saturday, December 17, 2005

As you mingle through the holiday season with friends, family, co-workers, etc., casually slip this into conversations if and when you can. Don't rely on the mainstream media to do the job for you, cause they won't. Besides, the more folks hear it out of the mouths of people they know, the better the chances they might actually be convinced into agreement. It's all about humanizing and putting this information into plain english. Bush is illegally spying on Americans, and his reasons for doing so are bullshit. Now who could possibly still be down with that, once they know the facts?

Friday, December 16, 2005

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Showtime may rescue Arrested DevelopmentWed Dec 14, 2005 3:47 AM ETBy Nellie AndreevaLOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Will the pay-TV environs of Showtime be a friendlier place for the Emmy-winning comedy Arrested Development, which just got canceled by Fox?Word around town this week is that Showtime is in talks to pick up the comedy about a chaotic family. Sources stressed that the talks are still exploratory and that it would be a big financial commitment on Showtime's part to pick up the show in its current form with a large ensemble cast that includes Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi, Jessica Walter and Will Arnett.

Arrested was an instant hit with critics following its debut on Fox in late 2003, but the show never pulled in much of a crowd, even after it won the Emmy for best comedy series in 2004. Last month, Fox threw in the towel, cutting its episode order for Arrested's third season from its initial 22-episode ticket to 13.

Representatives for Showtime, and the series' producers 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV declined comment late Tuesday.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The Golden Globes announced their nominations today. Three of my BIG faves; Curb YourEnthusiasm (HBO), Entourage (HBO), & Weeds (Showtime), all received nominations in the BEST TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY category. All three are VERY deserving, especially Weeds---the best show on television this side of Arrested Development that no one is watching. And speaking of Arrested Development---not a single nomination! Insult added to the unjust injury of this show's slow and painfully sad demise...

What's really great though is thatWeeds starring actresses Mary-Louise Parker and Elizabeth Perkins were also recognized with nominations. Parker is nominated in the BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY category for her very convincing portrayal of the suburban pot-dealing widowed mother of two trying to make ends meet. But actually winning the award looks to be a longshot for her, as she's going up against the four bitches from Desperate Housewives. Perkins is nominated in the BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION category. Her stunning performance as a real desperate housewife on the edge was hands down the best performance by a woman on all of television this year!

The god-like genius of Entourage's Jeremy Piven gets nominated again in the BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION category. Looks bleak for him though, he's up against Paul Newman & Donald Sutherland fer chrissakes! Man that guy just can't catch a break. But at least he was nominated, which is more than can be said for Curb Your Enthusiam's subtly brilliant Jeff Garlin, who was totally robbed. Where would that show be without him?

Sunday, December 11, 2005

I watched about 2 hours of the new Guided By Voices dvd, The Electrifying Conclusion. The dvd is the complete chronicle of the band's farewell show last New Year's Eve at the Metro in Chicago. It's four hours long! Like I said, I only watched a couple hours of it, skipping around to the tunes I wanted to hear most, as well as the two lengthy encore sets, and geez, gotta say it wore me out! If you're a fan, you've no doubt seen them do better shows, and you've also probably seen them worse shows, but probably not one as all-encompassing of their history.

It's an amazing 63 song set list!Whew! The "farewell show" sentimentality that runs throughout is indeed very touching. Several ex-band members and friends of the band make cameo appearances onstage, which is very nice to see. And lead guitarist Doug Gillard's magnificence is once and for all cemented visually on this dvd---the guy who always kept the circus together. Where the hell would Pollard have ever been without him these past several years?

And of course there is the drinking. The weird thing about watching this is you actually feel Pollard getting more and more wasted as the show carries on. The last third or so of the show he is clearly DEEP into the bag, staggering around & slurring the song introductions, his singing voice increasingly weaker with each new number, but damn if that inexplicable phenomenon within his particular mind and body was still at work, cause even up to the very end the guy never missed a single lyric! Always an amazing thing to see in action at any GBV show.

In 1994 GBV rekindled my faith in rock and roll, and for that I will always be thankful and carry the torch for them. The Electrifying Conclusion is a nice little, uh, make that massive document of them going out on a very "high" note. Cheers to anyone who can make it straight through all four hours in one sitting, maybe some day I'll be strong enough to pull that off.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

As a kid growing up in the '60's, Richard Pryor and Eugene McCarthy were two of the greatest teachers I ever had. Both men matched balls with intellect, and were genuine heroes because of it. Both were also men of peace. Four more American soldiers were senselessly killed in Iraq today. The work of Pryor & McCarthy is far from finished, as we are again in desperate need of leaders of their caliber...

Me and a few good friends, current & former co-workers, all share our thoughts on U2's first visit to St. Louis 25 years ago, in the following article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,written by another good friend, Dan Durchholz. And big props to my good buddy Tom Lunt for giving big props to the magnificent yet criminally ignored Magazine, truly one of the greatest English rock bands of all-time. The uninitiated can check them out here.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Thursday, December 08, 2005

"I am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. I'm gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that. And we have succeeded. You know we've succeeded. They are on the run in corporations, in the media, everywhere. They are on the run, because I will put their face and their name on television, and I will talk about them on the radio if they do it. There is no reason on this earth that all of us cannot celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together. There is no reason on the earth that we can't do that. So we are going to do it. And anyone who tries to stop us from doing it is gonna face me."---Bill O'Reilly, from The Radio Factor With Bill O'Reilly, December 2nd, 2005.And the jokes just write themselves. By all means feel free to leave any in the comments section, I'm sure we could all probably use a little HOLIDAY cheer...

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

You bet that was Tom Verlaine, adding subtly brilliant trademark guitar lines to the Patti Smith Group's performance of "Redondo Beach" last night on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Verlaine was a little hard to recognize as he performed seated in front of his amp wearing big black sunglasses and a hoodie pulled way up covering his head, looking more like a member of Fifty Cent's crew than the boho guitar legend that he is. But it was definitely him.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Families Of The Fallen For Change is a new, two-week old organization that is seeking a bi-partisan solution to the war in Iraq. It's members have lost family members and loved ones in the war. I don't agree with everything they are calling for, but I do sincerely wish them the best of luck in their efforts. I think they've earned the right to maybe be heard a little louder than others over the din. You can check out their website here.

Don't get me wrong, I hate New York Times columnist David Brooks and his unapologetic shilling for the Bush administration just as much as the next guy, but check out this response Brooks gave to a question during his appearance on the Imus In The Morning show today. As per usual, Imus lulled his guest into a comfort zone free of agenda and schtick long enough to speak freely:

Imus: "Donald Rumsfeld yesterday said that things are better in Iraq than is being portrayed by the media, and I don't know what that means because we talk to people everyday and they are part of the media, but, and it's not my job to defend them, but I, some of the reporters we talk to actually I think are fairly legitimate and don't have an agenda. They work for neither CBS nor CNN, ha, ha and it doesn't appear to be that way. But I don't know, what's your view, is he right or partly right?"

David Brooks: "He may be partly right, but if Rumsfeld hadn't been saying the same damn thing for four years he'd have a little more credibility saying it now. If just once he said 'Hey, this is really bad, here, here's why it's really bad but we're going to work through it', he'd have a lot more credibility. One of the things I, you know, if you've got 15 minutes, go to the internet, look up the FDR fireside chats during World War II in '42 and '43, he had one in '42, I think in February, and he told Americans, hey, lay out a map. Here's the Pacific, here's this island, we're losing there. Here's that island, we're actually doing ok there. Here's this island we haven't lost there, but we probably will. Here's the plane we're going to use. Here's the advantages of this plane and here's the disadvantages of this plane. Here's another weapon we have, here's the advantages, here's the disadvantages. It was like he was talking to you like you were an adult and you're going to stick this thing through and they were just better speeches than anything Bush has given. So you know, those speeches were fantastic because he treated people like adults and he was pretty honest and granted he had a united country. But you know, it's just a model of how to talk to people during a war."Talking to us like adults so we can then have an honest dialogue---what a concept. Now isn't that exactly what I heard Barack Obama calling for in a speech a couple of weeks ago, as well as many on the left echoing the same sentiments since? Of course we'll never be treated with anything close to such simple respect from Bush & Cheney & crew, even when the likes of strident supporters such as Brooks are calling for it.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

I know I'm in the minority among fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm for thinking this, but in my opinion the just concluded Season 5 may have been the best season of the show yet. It certainly was the most over the top and the sickest. It felt like Larry David and Jeff Garlin wanted to see just how far they could take the show this year, and I think they succeeded, cause they sure let loose with some crazy, crazy shit. And now that Arrested Development finds it's days of existence on Fox sadly numbered, I guess CYE will soon beall alone as the funniest show on tv.

Friday, December 02, 2005

The best thing about the White Stripes' appearance on The Daily Show last night, by the way the first music act to ever appear on the show, was Stephen Colbert's quip about the Stooges & the MC5. Colbert then countering with Rick Springfield on The Colbert Report was pretty hilarious, as was his bit on the death penalty. The Colbert Report has finally come into it's own of late, and is definitely worthy of it's heavy lead-in from The Daily Show. Both shows are must see tv.And here's hoping that Stewart will continue to have music acts on his show, as I'm sure a Daily Show appearance will shoot to the top of the prestige list of shows to appear on. As for the wretched White Stripes, I stand by what I've said about them from day one: Jon Spencer, call your lawyers!

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Looks like HBO is going to make us wait until June for the return of the mighty Deadwood.

From tvguide.com:WHAT THE &@#&!: Deadwood fans are going to have to wait a little longer for their Al Swearengen fix. HBO has opted to push the show's third-season premiere to June. It was originally slated to launch in March, in conjunction with the new season of The Sopranos. The new polygamy drama Big Love takes that plum slot instead.